Typical commercial aircraft engines are surrounded and encapsulated in aerodynamic structures which form a nacelle 2 represented in FIGS. 1 and 2. The typical nacelle 2 is comprised of an inlet 3, fan cowl 4, and thrust reverser 5. The thrust reverser 5 is an assembly that is made up of a fixed inner structure assembly 6 and a translating structure assembly 7 represented in FIG. 2. The translating structure assembly 7 contains moving blocker doors and a sliding sleeve which when deployed block the fan flow and redirect the fan flow to provide reverse thrust. The fixed structure assembly 6 is made up of two halves that surround the engine core. Each half is hinged off of an engine strut and engages the engine through an inner and outer v-groove interface. The thrust reverser has v-blades that engage the engine v-groove to transmit forward and reverse thrust loads into the engine structure. The main part of the thrust reverser fixed structure assembly that transmits the reverse thrust air loads from the blocker doors and cascades to the engine v-groove is called the Torque Box Assembly 8. The torque box 8 structurally connects the thrust reverser actuation systems 9 to the engine. Because the torque box 8 must react the loads created by the operation of the thrust reverser actuation systems, the construction of the torque box 8 is substantial.
Typically, a torque box 8 is comprised of two generally semi-circular sections that extend around opposite sides of the engine circumference. Each section is typically a closed box, metallic built up structure comprised of multiple sheet metal parts, forgings, and extrusions fastened together by thousands of fasteners per aircraft engine. The construction of the torque box 8 involves multiple processes and a significant amount of assembly time. Each torque box section typically has a constant cross section along its entire length, and the constructions of the sections are not specifically tailored to load at certain points of application and reaction. There are also typically radial stiffening ribs inside the torque box sections that are spatially arranged along the lengths of the sections to stabilize the sections for fatigue and shear buckling between load application areas.